Posted on 09/17/2009 3:38:00 PM PDT by NYer
Last Wednesday, 7-year-old Emma Watson of Craigmont, Idaho, finally got her wish to meet Pope Benedict XVI. Register readers will remember first meeting Emma through this story.
Nearly aborted, Emma was born with mosaic Turner syndrome and hypoplastic left heart syndrome and has undergone five open-heart surgeries for palliation of her congenital heart condition. She has wanted to meet the Pope since age 3.
Originally scheduled to meet the Pope in February, that trip had to be canceled because Emma had to be hospitalized for intestinal bleeding. The trip was made possible through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which granted 13,425 wishes to children last year.
This time around, she almost missed seeing the Pope for two different reasons. First, only three weeks before the trip, she was hospitalized with pancreatitis. Then, on the morning of the general audience, the Watson family couldn’t find the Make-A-Wish volunteers in the plaza.
Eventually, they found one another, and the Watsons were rushed in and seated for the general audience just minutes before it began. Emma and her mother, Patti, were given front-row seats.
“Mom was looking the other way when the Pope came out,” said Emma. “I was in awe, and I started crying.”
“She kept saying, ‘It’s the Pope. That’s the Pope,’” said Emma’s mother, Patti.
After the audience, Emma and her mother were brought to greet the Pope.
The Holy Father blessed Emma “in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” and then put his hands on Emma’s shoulders.
“He asked us where we were from,” said Patti. “I said the U.S., and then we were ushered aside.”
Normally quite talkative, Patti said that Emma was “speechless for the first time in her life.”
Emma said that when she looked into the Pope’s eyes she saw “happiness.”
God bless her and her family!
Nice story... Although for a moment I thought she was the one who played Hermoine Granger in Harry Potter’s movies...
Yep, I thought it was the Harry Potter girl also at first.
My daughter has Turner Syndrome. 45X0 Chromosome.
“Mom was looking the other way when the Pope came out,” said Emma. “I was in awe, and I started crying.” -snip - Emma said that when she looked into the Pope’s eyes she saw “happiness.”
Now I have tears in my eyes!
He reminds me of the kindly Opa that always took the time to listen to the little ones and always had a twinkle in his eye (and possibly a peppermint in his pocket). While JPII (at least before he was so debilitated by illness) was the adventurous uncle who came breezing in from parts unknown, bringing mysterious artifacts and exciting tales.
It's very hard to fake kindliness and treating little children as individuals with real cares and concerns of their own. It takes a special sort of person, and I think the wisdom that comes with age.
So many prenatal test with ambiguous results are being performed now. One has to wonder how many beautiful babies have been aborted as a result of this testing. I know of several women that were informed their AFP results were abnormal and were told to consider abortions. Because they were Pro Life Christians they wouldn’t even think about aborting their child. In all 3 cases they deliverd beautiful babies.
What a wonderful story. May God bless Emma and her family abundantly.
Prayers for her too!
Thank you dear. She’s had her challenges, but
she loves the Lord with all her heart. He
made her marvelous and wonderful!
Thank you for posting to this thread. How is she doing? Has she encountered a similar pattern of medical interventions as Emma?
While Emma is a “mosaic”, meaning she has some
normal chromosomes, my daughter is a full
Turner. Every 45th chromosome is an XO.
We were told she would have trouble in school
especially math. She has two college degrees
and carried a 3.6 gpa throughout grade school
High School and College.
We were told that she would have heart problems.
She recently had an MRI where the Doctor pronounced
her heart to be “beautiful”.
We were told that she had atrophied ovaries. Though
infertile, hers are identifiable on ultrasound.
Her ureters are bent and should not be able to prevent
urinary reflux. Yet... she does not suffer from UT
infections.
She is happily married. She has a remarkable relationship
with her Savior, Jesus. He has carried her through
and her faith is huge because of it.
Thank you for asking. It is nice to share her story.
You can see her on TBN on “Colby’s Clubhouse”. She is
Jessica Adams.
Here she is (with the really big frizzy hair) singing
with Psalty and Colby “Loving You Back”. Twelve years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noxKtLhA1sU&feature=channel_page
LOL! I’ve always thought of him as a ‘Grandfatherly type’, too! Whenever I’ve seen pictures of him with little children, it reminds me of how President Bush always gave kids his full attention, usually bending, or crouching down to look them straight in the eyes.
Sometimes not quite the way we expect, but he does. What a marvelous story. It sounds like she has 'triumphed gloriously'.
Yes. What a terrific way to say it.
She has triumphed gloriously! Amen!
She is a gift to me and a blessing to
anyone who knows her.
Awwww. . . she’s cute as a button! And her hair is precious . . . I always wanted curly hair, mine’s fine and lank and straight as a board.
Her hair caused her a great deal of suffering
from other children. Though I loved it, she
found it very frustrating.
I have never seen a story about a Turner in
the news until now.
Many women don’t know they are until they try
to have children. Short stature and failure
to thrive are symptoms. Turners don’t produce
any hormones ... NONE.
Jess took growth hormone for six years.
Thank you for letting me share her story.
I’m always borrowing phrases from the Psalms . . . (in this case, actually a canticle) like “Psalty” I guess! (he has a wonderful voice, btw).
Sometimes I think they don't appreciate stuff like that until they get older. Other children will however find something to tease you about -- anything (in my case it was my maiden name - which they changed to "Mother Magoo" as in Mr. Magoo . . . until a friend of mine redubbed me "Lucretia MacEvil" and then they left me alone!)
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